What Irish Talent is rising through the ranks at the moment, any really interesting prospects for the future, any who are being talk about as the next BOD? The irish team as I am aware are getting into the later years of the Rugby Talent... So what does the future hold for Irish Rugby??

Just interested because I hear alot about the English Talents but very little about the other nations...

shazbooger

27-01-08, 12:56 PM

Hmmmm your never really sure to be honest until we see them coming through the provincial setup.

Backs:

Kearney - 22 years old now and included in the match day squad against Italy. Prefferred position of full back, and the heir apparent for Dempseys slot. Good left foot on him, good head on him. A regular international going forward.

Fitzgerald - This guy has been hyped quite a bit over the past two years as the new O&#39;Driscoll. Another player that prefers full-back but has been stuck out on the wing. A very exciting runner but in my opinion still suspect defensively and a little lightweight for my liking. Another year or so and we should be expecting him to come through.

Healy - The find of the season for all of us really. Young Leinster prop (i think he&#39;s 20). 6ft 1", and supposedly presses more then any other Leinster forward. Extremely mobile around the pitch. Please god he comes through okay cause he&#39;s looking like out only long term options apart from.....

Buckley - This guy is a fecking Monster prop coming out of Munster. Not so mobile, but very powerful. Will be interesting to see how he develops but hes a lot closer to the first team then the likes of Healy.

Ryan - Young lock from Munster. Starting to get a few caps but as you&#39;d expect opportunities arent too common in the Munster Lock department at the moment. Were still waiting to see how he comes through.

There&#39;s 5 of the obvious ones. The Munster and Connaught lads will have to give you more on their younth players. You got to remember that a lot of the Irish team easily have another 4 years in them.

getofmeland

27-01-08, 07:21 PM

The Irish side may have another 4 years in them but how many of them are likely to be at the next world cup??

Its a good to see some talent is there any youtube clips about?

shazbooger

27-01-08, 09:32 PM

The likes of D&#39;Arcy, Reddan, O&#39;Driscoll, Flannery, O&#39;Callaghan, O&#39;Connell are all hitting the 28 (ish) mark at the moment. They&#39;ll be there or there abouts for the next WC. A lot depends on how their bodies hold up really.

The rest are probably up on You tube, but these props are the important ones :)

el_tk

27-01-08, 10:18 PM

Johnny Sexton looks like developing into Leinster&#39;s next outhalf when Dr. Phil retires. There&#39;s also a very good outhalf/inside centre by the name of Ian Keatley.

Fitzgerald has come on hugely this year and definitely has a big future ahead of him.

There&#39;s also a Russian kid by the name of Artimiev who could be big in a few years.

Gr1ffster

27-01-08, 10:25 PM

i reckon tommy bowe.. but he&#39;s buggered off to ospreys coz eddie ain&#39;t playin him

shazbooger

27-01-08, 11:11 PM

There&#39;s also a Russian kid by the name of Artimiev who could be big in a few years. [/b] Is that good for Russia or good for us? ;)

Gavin

27-01-08, 11:39 PM

The props look very mobile from the clips I watched. This could be good when the ELV&#39;s come up North, althought when reading an article about a pre-season Super14 match when the ELV&#39;s were used it was said that there were less line-outs but more scrums.

Surely with the amount of times scrums have to be re-set this will slow down the game, in the sense of the amount of scrums and the time it takes to get a safe one.

snoopy snoopy dog dog

28-01-08, 01:42 PM

In addition to those already mentioned, these are probably the most talented younger players:

I&#39;m without doubt leaving some people out but those are the best (ie future internationals) that spring to mind.

Sir Speedy

28-01-08, 02:10 PM

There&#39;s an oxymoron in the title.

:P

danny

28-01-08, 06:28 PM

Prop is a big weakness for Ireland, who looks like they can be international class in that position?

An Tarbh

28-01-08, 08:02 PM

If Healy stays fit he&#39;ll get a Lions test place eventually. He&#39;s that good, his strength is phenomenal so give him a few years and he&#39;ll be a mainstay in the Irish side.

Buckley also looks more than promising so we&#39;re not as screwed as we once thought we were.

snoopy snoopy dog dog

28-01-08, 08:53 PM

Prop is a big weakness for Ireland, who looks like they can be international class in that position? [/b]
As An Tarbh said, Healy has immense talent. He&#39;s only 20 or 21 and already looks a quality player. By the time he hits his mid 20s he&#39;ll be an awesome player.

Beyond Healy, Tony Buckley is very talented. He&#39;s cut from the same cloth as John Hayes. Until about one year ago he was a massive disappointment but suddenly something clicked (perhaps the need to secure a new contract) and he hasn&#39;t looked back. He&#39;s 27 so he has 6 or 7 years as a quality prop ahead of him.

Mike Ross was thinking of packing up the game and moving to the USA having failed to secure a Munster deal two years ago. That was until Harlequins offered him a gateway into pro rugby. Since then ,he&#39;s held down the #3 shirt for Dean Richards&#39; team. At 27 he&#39;s approaching his prime and shoud go on to win a few caps (once Eddie O&#39;Sullivan gets over his bizarre decision not to pick players playing outside Ireland).

Stephen Knoop is a good bet for international honours. He&#39;s another 27 year old entering his prime. He played for Connacht for 3 years and did a quietly effective job. His time at Leinster has been injury hit but he&#39;s been impressive in limited action. He seems to be a very accomplished scrummager.

Beyond them there&#39;s Darragh Hurley (solid all round loosehead) and Timmy Ryan (a Buckley clone) at Munster, Michael Diffley and Ronan Loughney (a superb prospect who&#39;s been badly disrupted by injuries) at Connacht and Bryan Young (just 26 so has time to rebuild his career) at Ulster. There are a couple of u20s at Leinster with talent but it&#39;s too early to tell how they&#39;ll progress.

An Tarbh

28-01-08, 08:59 PM

Does anyone know if Royce Burke Flynn is making any progress, he certainly looked promising at schools level but I&#39;ve not heard if he&#39;s made any progress. I know a lot of these promising schools players don&#39;t make the transition to senior rugby but he looked like he had something.

el_tk

28-01-08, 10:29 PM

He&#39;s apparently in the Leinster academy but the only thing I remember hearing is question marks over his attitude a few years back.

shazbooger

29-01-08, 01:06 PM

He&#39;s apparently in the Leinster academy but the only thing I remember hearing is question marks over his attitude a few years back. [/b] And his name. ****&#39;s sake "Royce Burke Flynn", you guys are taking the pish yeah?

stevemagoo

29-01-08, 01:44 PM

Straight out of the Ross O&#39;Carroll-Kelly columns!!
Vasily Artimev, forgot about him - he was a try-machine for Rock.
remember laughing at the time of the JCT what would happen if he played for Ireland....

nam97

29-01-08, 02:49 PM

<div class='quotemain'> There&#39;s also a Russian kid by the name of Artimiev who could be big in a few years. [/b] Is that good for Russia or good for us? ;)
[/b][/quote]

Hey yeah, I&#39;m interested in knowing more about this Russkie. Can anyone shed some light? Cheers.

Propie

29-01-08, 04:12 PM

I think that young Ulsterman Andrew Trimble could well be the next BOD!

shazbooger

29-01-08, 04:28 PM

Hey yeah, I&#39;m interested in knowing more about this Russkie. Can anyone shed some light? Cheers. [/b] Tell him nothing lads! I can see it clearly, 5 years from now, Artemev will be blabing off some spiel about being offered a better financial opportunities, and fulfilling a lifelong dream while running out in an All Black jersey.

wildweirdandwonderful

17-02-08, 10:47 PM

Healy&#39;s future lies as a hooker not a prop, whilst his play with ball in hand is excellent, his scrummaging leaves a lot to be desired, also as he likes the glory his positional sense needs a lot of work (he needs to commit to more rucks)

all that being said, he is only 20 and he will evolve to be a lions standard hooker, but not a prop

shtove

18-02-08, 12:07 AM

If Healy stays fit he&#39;ll get a Lions test place eventually. He&#39;s that good, his strength is phenomenal so give him a few years and he&#39;ll be a mainstay in the Irish side.

Buckley also looks more than promising so we&#39;re not as screwed as we once thought we were. [/b]
Buckley has massive strength - he threw one Edinburgh player around like a doll in the latest Munster match. Pity he failed with a tackle on his inside arm to let them score. Don&#39;t know if he&#39;ll stay in the front row.

shazbooger

18-02-08, 02:30 PM

Buckley has massive strength - he threw one Edinburgh player around like a doll in the latest Munster match. Pity he failed with a tackle on his inside arm to let them score. Don&#39;t know if he&#39;ll stay in the front row.[/b] Good point, but he&#39;s what 6ft 4", and a stone heavier then John Hayes. A monster of a man, but in the grand scheme of things, too small and probably too heavy to make an effective second row. Probably the bigger point would be that the IRFU need props, we dont need second rows as badly. The guy will stay a prop for one of those reasons I&#39;d say. Still very early days though.

el_tk

18-02-08, 08:15 PM

<div class='quotemain'>
<div class='quotemain'> There&#39;s also a Russian kid by the name of Artimiev who could be big in a few years. [/b] Is that good for Russia or good for us? ;)
[/b][/quote]

Hey yeah, I&#39;m interested in knowing more about this Russkie. Can anyone shed some light? Cheers. [/b][/quote]

Russian kid comes to Blackrock college (big rugby school) at age 15, decides to try rugby, is immediately brilliant, ends up playing on the U-15 1st team in the junior cup, scores a hat-trick in the final to beat the school I was in ( :ranting: ), plays 3 years of Senior Cup rugby and underage rugby for Ireland at one level but the next year the IRB decide he&#39;s ineligibly for schoolboy teams as his parents live in Moscow. Now in the Leinster academy and playing AIL for UCD.

snoopy snoopy dog dog

18-02-08, 09:18 PM

A guy everybody neglected to mention has just been called into the full Ireland squad - Niall O&#39;Connor is just 20 years old and looks a good prospect at flyhalf.

feicarsinn

10-03-08, 12:00 AM

luke fitzgerald nd kearney are probably the most exciting of the bunch
fitzgerald has been excellent this year for leinster got 2 tries against toulose heres one against cardiff http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=eJI1ZMC4pc4

peppers07

10-03-08, 09:58 AM

Johny Sexton maybe
Luke Fitzgerald
Rob Kearny
Andrew Trimble
Tommy Bow
Brian Kearny
What about Ian Dowling ?
Niall Oconner
Cian Heally
Tony Buckly
Neil Best
The russian guy i only just heard about now
And ive missed a good few forwards

el_tk

10-03-08, 11:36 AM

Brian Carney is at least 30 and Ian Dowling is garbage

snoopy snoopy dog dog

10-03-08, 07:08 PM

Brian Kearny
What about Ian Dowling? [/b]
Carney had a chance to make a name for himself and didn&#39;t take it. As far as I&#39;m aware he has an option to end his Munster contract during the summer. With the RL World Cup coming up later this year, I fully accept him to jump codes again and end his career in the 13 man game.

Dowling is a solid club player but isn&#39;t international class in my opinion. While his desire can&#39;t be faulted, he lacks top level pace and is very predictable in what he does. Tommy Bowe, Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald, Felix Jones, Johne Murphy, Mark McCrea, Fionn Carr, Keith Earls and Vasily Artemiev are all younger, more talented wing options than Dowling.

zabbo

11-03-08, 10:34 PM

Keith Earls, centre for Munster.

Shame none of the young talent will get much game time for their provinces.

gingergenius

12-03-08, 01:15 PM

rob kearney looks like a real find for you.

unfortunately you lot need some confidence and a new coach. the front row is very poor, and o&#39;gara only seems to play well behind a solid pack. wales&#39; back row dominated... and ireland had such poor ball